"Vodka is not a flavourless drink," says Mariusz Dampc of the Polish Vodka Museum in Warsaw. "That is a very Western view," he adds. "Polish vodka is all about the soil, the water, the climate and the human element: the terroir."
Ms Vellinga adds that many "new world vodkas" - which she defines as those made outside of the drink's historic heartland shouldn't use the name.